Washing Off the Blood
by Lightning-Mage-Betrayl
Summary: Not once did he regret saving her, not even after she recieved the punishment for saving him. Because if he hadn't saved her, they wouldn't have won, and she would still be in agony. Updates soon.
1. Prolouge

_**It was never easy. Washing off the blood. It was against the rules to do it by 'unconventional means'. For nearly seven years she'd been living in this prison. This hell.**_

_**And not a day went past did she regret doing what she did to end up here.**_

_**Not once did she regret it.**_


	2. Chapter One

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7 ½ Years Before - Summer 1997

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_A young girl, hardened by her difficult past, sat up in her chair, her eyes hollow from the sleepless nights that constantly plagued her. Not that her 'friends' or family noticed. They only notice those who were important._

_Before the insomnia had started, horrendous graphic nightmares came, steady, almost in a never-ending stream. She'd rather take the endless days than the everlasting memories. She picked at her food, staring blankly at her plate. A burst of laughter erupted from her father's friend and she grimaced as a headache formed._

_"I'm leaving." she announced, standing back up, a dark look on her face. They didn't even look up. She took off to her room in a fury. She packed her meager belongings in her trunk and left the house, tears threatening to fall. She should have known by now, that she didn't matter, she thought to herself. She just always hoped she was wrong._

_She walked on for days, ignoring everyone who tried to help or ask what was wrong. Her trunk had been wearing down from use, she mused, just as she had from misuse._

_Yet through it all, she loved her family and her friends. She didn't want to love them after all that had happened, but she knew she did and always would._

_After nearly a week of walking, she ate a little of the candy she'd brought, and drank eagerly from a water fountain nearby. Unconsciously, she filled the clay container she'd made when during one of the first nights, with water. Sometime afterward, she'd gotten her letter, and sent a response._

_And she did walk for nearly two months, stopping at various places for food and water, before she'd found herself walking on train tracks. Familiar train tracks at that. And somehow she knew, she was finally heading in the right direction._

_When she arrived in the familiar town she sensed no one had noticed she'd gone. There were no signs up asking for her safe return, nor did she see any signs that they thought her dead. She felt invisible._

_She stopped at the Three Broomsticks and went inside, heading for the counter. Madam Rosmerta blinked twice when she saw her._

_"Do you think you could tell me the date?" she asked Madam Rosmerta. Madam Rosmerta looked slightly aback before answering._

_"It's August 30th." the older woman asked, trying to place her._

_"Thank you, Madam Rosmerta." she replied, starting to walk out._

_"How long has it been since you've had real food and a bath?" Madam Rosmerta asked, in sincerity._

_"Seventy-seven days…" she answered, trying to exit. Someone pushed open the door and hit her in the face, resulting in a resounding crack. She fell backwards, blood falling from her dirty face. Madam Rosmerta raced to her side._

_"Are you all right?" a familiar voice asked, coming from around the door. The young girl didn't reply and just held her nose._

_"I think she's got a broken nose. Can you get her up to the school?" Madam Rosmerta asked, helping the girl up. She flinched when she saw the person who hit her was._

_"Yes." he answered, taking the girl's arm, and she completely forgot her trunk. They walked in silence before he asked the girl._

_"**Who are you?**"_

_She refused to answer, trying to pretend it didn't matter. She started to falter in her step as she became dizzy as she had often while she was walking._

_"Are you all right?" he then asked._

_"Just… dizzy…" She said before starting to fall backwards. He caught her._

_"Th-thank you." she stammered, pushing off him and trying to walk on her own. He caught up with her and placed an arm around her shoulder, helping her walk._

_"Why help anyone at all, Malfoy?" she asked him struggling to stay upright._

_"I don't know what to tell you…" Draco Malfoy admitted._

_The two walked the rest of the way in silence. It was, in a way, comfortable. When they reached the doors, he let go of her._

_"Thank you…" she whispered to him as he opened the doors. He nodded as they walked in. They again walked in silence, until they reached a dark corridor in the dungeons. A stern looking Professor Snape exited a room at the end of the hall._

_"Draco. Who is this?" He asked, his normally vicious tone gone._

_"I think I broke her nose. She won't tell me who she is." Malfoy told Professor Snape. Professor Snape gestured the two down the corridor into the Potions storeroom._

_"I can't do much about your nose except give you a potion to stop the bleeding. You'll have to see Madam Pomfrey when she arrives tomorrow." he told her, handing her a vial of bluish green liquid._

_"Thank you, Professor Snape." she said quietly, as Malfoy left. Snape just looked her over, trying to place her._

_She downed the potion with a gulp and handed the vial back._

_"Who are you?" the professor asked in defeat. She opened her mouth to answer when she fell dizzy again, and crumpled against the doorframe._

_"I'm… I'm Ginny Weasley , Professor." she admitted. He stared in shock for a moment._

_"Why are you not with your family, Miss Weasley?" he asked her._

_"I haven't been for awhile, sir…" she said, attempting to stand._

_"They told the Order you went missing two days ago…" he told her._

_"But I've been gone since June 4th, sir…" she whispered, knowing they'd just know noticed. He helped her up and tried not to look at her._

_"You'll stay in a spare room for tonight. I'll take you and Draco Malfoy to King's Cross tomorrow to board the train, and your parents will be notified afterwards." he told her, leading her out._


	3. Chapter Two

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August 31st, 1997

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_

_Ginny hastily caught up with Malfoy and Snape as they walked into King's Cross. She played with her now washed hair as they slipped through the throngs of people towards the barrier. She noticed Hermione enter in front of them and grimaced. She didn't want to encounter her family at the current moment._

_After passing through the barrier and finding an empty compartment on the train, she winced. Her nose still hurt where Malfoy had hit it. She lay on the seat and stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out why she'd made the rash decision to tell Snape how long she'd been gone. The compartment door was knocked on and she glanced over. Thinking no one was in there, the person knocking entered. Harry Potter._

"_Ginny!" he said in surprise. She winced as her headache made a comeback._

"_Are you all right?" he then asked. She stayed silent._

"_Ginny?" he questioned, waving his hand in front of her face. She grabbed his hand weakly and brushed it away._

"_Where have you been for the past three days?" Harry asked, concern showing on his face. Ginny couldn't tell if it was real. She went back to staring at the ceiling. He stopped trying to talk to her and sat on the other seat._

'_**Why did he have to come? He's making me feel guiltier than I have felt…"** she thought, trying to hide that fact. She started humming a song she'd heard sometime during the long summer. Harry just stared, puzzled._

_Ginny didn't notice that she began to sing it softly as she was to busy thinking of other things._

"_Thought that I could fall, fall into the sky, thought that I could fly, fly with broken wings…" she sang as Harry was charmed by the sound of her voice and the lyrics of the song._

"_I just wanna fly away… I wanna get away from here… I wanna leave this place... Leave this all behind... and my broken wings are flying me nowhere that I wanna go.." She continued, staring at her hand before realizing she'd been singing. She blushed red and left the compartment._

_The only other empty compartment was next to the Heads compartment, where Hermione and Malfoy were arguing. She sighed at plopped down on the seat, the color finally leaving her face. It was then she realized the robes she'd gotten last year were no longer tight, but big on her. She sighed inwardly and moved her legs up and placed her chin on her knees and hugged her self._

_She sat there until the train stopped, at which time she got off and headed to where the threstrals were waiting. Malfoy motioned to her, and she went towards him._

"_Potter sat with you, didn't he?" he asked, seeing the look on her face. She cast an obviously fake smile at him. _

"_Granger told me to bring someone in so she wouldn't bother me when she brought in Padma Patil…" he told her, taking her arm._

"_Why **me?**" she asked, confused._

"_I still owe you since I broke your nose and all." Malfoy told her, opening a carriage door. Hermione and Padma were talking animatedly about something and hadn't noticed their entrance._

"_Thanks." Ginny managed to say as she sat down. Hermione and Padma jerked their heads up at the sound of her voice._

"_**Ginny? Malfoy brought you?**" Hermione asked in surprise._

"_He owed me… seeing as how he broke my nose with a door yesterday and all…" Ginny answered, smiling slightly._

"_Where were you?" Hermione asked._

"_Walking around…" Ginny rasped, her headache becoming worse._

"_For over two months?" Hermione asked, as Padma and Malfoy looked on in confusion._

"_I'm surprised you even noticed. No one else did until three days ago." Ginny retorted, tears threatening to fall. The carriage stopped after the long silence that followed. The four got out and entered Hogwarts, not mentioning a word about the incident._

_They sat at their respective tables, stealing glances at each other as they waited for everyone to enter._

_After everyone was seated the sorting began, and Hermione started kept Ron and Harry from bothering Ginny, Ginny watched bored._

"_Allexs, Kiren." McGonagall called. The boy was sorted into Ravenclaw. After fifteen were sorted, the real surprise came._

"_Sirius, Giles." McGonagall called. The entire hall was silent, looking at the tiny replica of Draco Malfoy and even said Malfoy looked surprised._

"_Gryffindor!" the hat called. The platinum blond boy went towards the Gryffindor table with a quizzical look on his face. Ginny allowed him to sit next to her._

"_Why is everyone staring?" he asked as McGonagall continued the sorting._

"_You look like another student here." Ginny told him._

"_Is that my brother then?" he asked, looking at Ginny, scared._

"_Why would you think that?" Ginny asked him as Dumbledore stood up._

"_I would like to welcome you to another year of Hogwarts. You are to remember that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden to all. Filch has an ever-growing list of forbidden objects, posted on his door which you must not possess. Our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher shall be Selene-Maria Sirius." Dumbledore announced. A black haired woman with brown eyes sat next to Snape. She looked familiar in an unfamiliar way._

"_My mommy told me there would be…" Giles said softly. Ginny smiled as they began to eat._

_After the Welcoming Feast was over, Ginny lead Giles to the Gryffindor Common Room. He took in his surroundings with glee and thanked Ginny for helping him out. After all the others left for bed, including Giles, Ginny left the Common Room, and began to wander the corridors. She knew she could be caught, so she tread lightly and aimlessly. She didn't grow tired after her hour long wander, and snuck out of the castle, and headed for the lake. A figure already sat by it, but she went and sat next to the person anyway._

"_Weasley.." Malfoy said as she sat down._

"_What?" Ginny asked softly._

"_Why did you run away?" he asked, staring at the lake._

"_I was tired. Of being ignored… misused… I wanted to be noticed. But they took seventy-four days to notice I was gone, much less searched. I hadn't intended to stay away. Just like I hadn't intended to come to Hogwarts. I wanted to be something more the person who opened the Chamber of Secrets, more than the Weaslette… more than a stupid little girl with dreams of becoming important. I wanted to do more than dream. I thought that if I could get them to notice me… I just wanted…" she trailed off, teary eyed, still looking at the lake with Malfoy._

"_To be able to make the nightmares stop?" he asked quietly._

"_Ye…yes…" she stammered, wiping tears from her face._

"_Running away never solves anything.." he whispered._

_  
"I know… I…why…" she couldn't form a sentence. _

_Draco Malfoy then did something he'd never expected to do. He touched her face gently with his hand and turned his head to face him. Ginny looked in his eyes, and he in hers, and they got closer to each other._

"_It's wrong…" Ginny rasped, as they drew even closer._

"_I know…" he answered as their lips touched. They sat there for minutes, still locked in a kiss, before a breaking branch interrupted them. Then the two ran to the school, hand in hand, trying desperately to avoid the person who ran after them._

_To avoid Lucius Malfoy._


	4. Chapter Three

Sorry about the time skips.. they're needed in the beginning... It'll make more sense later. And about the fact that only Hermione noticed, you'll see later...

_

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Same Day__

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_

_Ginny yelped in pain as she landed harshly on the ground. Draco tried to pull her up and run._

_"You can't run from me any longer, Draco... nor can your little toy..." Lucius Malfoy said, inching closer. Draco lifted Ginny up in his arms, bridal style, and ran into the castle._

_As Draco followed Ginny's directions to the Gryffindor Common room, Lucius Malfoy headed for the dungeons, under the belief that they went that way._

_When Draco and Ginny reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Ginny woke her up._

_"It's a little late for being out!" the Fat Lady said startled._

_"Cold Yuletides" Ginny just said. The portrait opened and Draco walked in._

_"Ginny! Where were you! And why is Malfoy in here?" Hermione exclaimed._

_"Not now! Do you have strong wards on your room?" Ginny questioned, as Draco put her down._

_"Err.. yes... Why?" Hermione asked, leading the two to her room._

_"I'll tell you after we're in..." Ginny said, waiting for Hermione to open her door. _

_"Anxio petrificus totalus!" Lucius Malfoy's voice rang through the commom room, a reddish beam hitting Hermione causing her to fall rigidly against the floor. Ginny and Draco ran into the seventh year boy's room, reaching for thier wands as they did so._

_"Lumos!" Draco cast as soon as they shut the door behind them. Ginny let out a scream as Lucius Malfoy began to try to enter. The seventh year boys awoke and grasped their wands. Ginny fell from the brutal opening of the door behind her,as Draco pointed his wand at the door. When she failed to get up, he rushed tp her side, as the seventh year Gryffindors attacked Lucius Malfoy with a variety of attack spells, ranging from petrificus totalus to articulus consisto anxio(moment of anguish)._

_"Avada Kedavra!" Lucius cast at Ginny before he fell over, rigid. Draco shoved her away, shoving himself back as he did so. The spell hit the floor and dissipated._

_"Ginny!" Harry called, finally seeing her._

_"She'll be fine, Potter... can we get my father- to Dumbledore, and Granger to the infirmary?" Draco asked, saying father with disdian._

_"What are you doing here! And where's Hermione!" Ron blew up._

_"I was helping your little sister run from my father, Weasley..." Draco admitted, helping the younger Weasley up._

_"Ron, we need to get to Dumbledore... I have a feeling this is all worse than we think..." Ginny said, struggling to stay standing, as Lucius Malfoy's hand twitched. The young girl collasped from exhaustion as the sound of glass breaking hit the ears of every occupant of the Gryffindor tower._


	5. Chapter Four

Sorry it's been so long. I sincerely didn't mean to neglect this fanfiction. It's honestly one of my favorites. Unfortunately, before I moved last October, I lost the copies I had of what I'd posted. When I finally got settled down to write, I had no internet (and I still don't.) I don't know how long this'll be, but I do hope it at least partially makes up for my absence.

If you want to know why it's in italics, and don't mind a spoiler, just say so and I'll tell you.

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_Same Day and Time_

_

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_

_The crash awoke the tower, each occupant jolting up in fear, with the exception of Ginny. Draco held her as the Gryffindor boys tried to see what had shattered loud enough to cause screams throughout the tower._

_As if something was haunting her, Ginny began to scream and thrash in her sleep, which brought the room's attention back on her._

"_Help!" Draco yelled at the boys, trying to wake her. It took a few seconds for them to register the thought, but when they did, all of them raced to help._

_Harry and Ron both tried to help Draco by taking the thrashing girl, but when they touched her, sparks of electricity seemed to shock them into releasing her._

"_What the bloody hell is going on?" Ron suddenly blurted out, his face red._

"_Which event are you referring too?" Draco spat, lifting the girl completely into his arms. Ron looked at him, slightly confused._

"_The crash, my father, Granger being petrified downstairs, or your lovely sister thrashing around like she's having a seizure?" Draco asked. _

"_Anxio petrificus totalus!" Before Ron could answer, Draco cast the spell his father had cast on Hermione on his father. After that, the Slytherin managed to grasp Ginny's wand and stand up._

"_Everything, Malfoy!" Harry yelled as Ron did. Draco turned away from them and kicked open the door, the new light from the Common room lighting up the dormitory._

_Ron and Seamus both cast a levitation charm on the cursed Malfoy. The entirety of the dormitory followed Draco out, Ron, Seamus, and Harry being the first three to begin._

_There was an extremely large group of Gryffindors, possibly the entire tower, gathered around in the center where Hermione was petrified. A scream let out when a third year saw Malfoy._

"_There's a Slytherin in here!" the girl screamed, pointing at Draco. Everyone looked at them just as McGonagall came out to see what was going on, and what the noise had been._

"_No!" Ginny yelled out an almost inhuman yell in her sleep, causing those who didn't know she was asleep to panic._

"_McGonagall! We need some help over here!" Harry yelled out standing in front of Draco. She raced over, a few of the sixth years following her._

"_Do you have anything to do with this, Potter?" she asked, having not heard the third year or seen Malfoy._

"_Stop!" Ginny yelled out in that same nearly inhuman way, still thrashing. McGonagall then spotted both Malfoy intruders._

"_We need to get Granger and Weasley to the Infirmary, and get my father, away." Draco said to her, still saying father with hate. McGonagall made to levitate Ginny, but her hands held too tightly to Draco, and the shocks Harry and Ron had felt touched her as well, vibrating through her wand. Draco moved out of McGonagall's way, racing out of the Gryffindor Tower to the infirmary._

_As he reached the approaching turn to the infirmary, an invisible cord tripped him, causing both him and Ginny to go sprawling on the ground. When the others caught up with them, Draco and Ginny were both unconscious… and thrashing._

_

* * *

__**That moment at the lake was one of the best moments she'd experienced before she discovered what was going on. It was one of the things she let herself remember as she sat in this prison. It, she supposed, helped her stay sane. **_

_**She could think that it was the reason she didn't regret doing what she did, but she knew it was only part of it. Only part of something more. **_

_**When the exhaustion had hit her that night, it had been something more sinister that caused the effects of her slumber. Something more sinister that had caused the other one to slumber as she did.**_

_**In the prison she was in, she hated to wash off the blood. Her blood. His blood. Their blood. It's blood. She remained filthy and cold from it. From the hell she'd been going through. Still, she refused to regret her actions.**_

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_Morning of September 1st,1997_

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__Pictures flew by her eyes, like a muggle film, each more evil than the last. Darkness encompassed them, as if taunting her with color. In each, was a man, face darkened and shadowed, and he was dead. Every time, he had a different way of being dead._

_But somehow she knew who it was._

_

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__End of Chapter 5_


	6. Chapter Five

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_Morning of September 1st, 1997_

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_Pictures flew by her eyes, like a muggle film, each more evil than the last. Darkness encompassed them, as if taunting her with color. In each, was a man, face darkened and shadowed, and he was dead. Every time, he had a different way of being dead._

_But somehow she knew who it was. **Him.** The one she'd always dreamed was dying. The one that, until now, she never knew by name. Something about him told her that he was supposed to have noticed her. Supposed to have talked to her. Supposed to have hit her with a door. Supposed to have been a Malfoy. _

_The pictures became slower and more descriptive, each one showing more carnage and blood than the last. Each one hitting her heart harder. And then a picture of her appeared. It didn't change, but advanced. The vision in front of her told a story._

_She watched, scared but enraptured in the story that was unfolding._

**Vision Ginny wore a red sweater and blue jeans with a purple stain under the front left pocket. Her school robes were on the ground next to her, covering a body.**

"**Evvy!" a male voice yelled. Ginny's head whipped up and looked around. A moment later, her eyes locked with a set of grey ones. The girl looked from the body to the grey eyed man before running to the man.**

"**He's dead… he's dead…" Ginny rasped, falling into him.**

"**We need to get out of here, Evvy. They'll find us." he told her, holding her close.**

"**I know! You don't think I know that!" she cried, trying to keep calm. The man just shook his head.**

"**Gin! Malfoy! Run!" a familiar voice rang out through the mists. Ginny and Draco looked around for a second before taking off in a hurry, hands clasped together.**

**They realized their mistake soon after. They'd run in the wrong direction. They'd run right into what they were running from.**

"**You failed, Weasley. I gave you a choice. Us or him. You picked him…" Lucius Malfoy snarled, reaching behind him. **

**He swung a katana with a curved hilt from behind him. As if he'd planned it all out, a spell from his wand hit the sword just before it hit flesh, leaving behind a deep, diagonal gash in Draco Malfoy's chest.**

"**No!" Ginny cried, forcing herself onto the ground by his dying body.**

"**Evvy… run…"**

_Her eyes fluttered open as she let out a guttural scream, her chest burning with an unbearable pain. Her hair was cold and dry against the surface of her wet, damp face, something she noticed before she could stop screaming._

"_Weasley! Calm down… it's all right now…" McGonagall told her, edging closer._

"_Why… why…" Ginny managed, her grip unknowingly tightening on Draco._

"_I don't know…"_

_-----_

That's all for now, sorry… I know it's not much. I tried to get as much in as I could with my time.

Please review… I love getting feedback.

I just realized my cat's three today... and I posted the first chapter a year and two months ago today...

LMB


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